Jessica Kobeissi has a much-needed rant in response to comments from viewers who assume that everyone not using mirrorless has been left behind in the dark ages.
"Why are you still using your dinosaur camera, Jessica?" "Why haven't you upgraded yet?" These are just some of the questions left in comments on photographer and YouTuber Jessica Kobeissi’s feed on a regular basis in response to her popular videos.
So, just why is it that Jessica has held off switching to mirrorless? As she explains in the video, there are many reasons, some of which resonate with me too, as I sit here writing this after having just packed my trusty Nikon D850 for a shoot in the morning.
While Jessica says that she does eventually plan to switch, she feels like she needs to take her time in making that decision, which is something that would certainly resonate with many photographers. Switching to a new system would entail not only the cost of a new camera body but also replacing an entire collection of lenses, spare batteries, and everything else that comes along with a system upgrade. This is a substantial financial commitment and not something that most enter into lightly.
Jessica is standing strong and not switching just because others are telling her that she needs to be using certain gear. Upgrade because you want to, not just because everyone else is. Surely, it’s the picture that matters, not what camera shot it.
Chasing the latest and greatest will only feed the manufacturers, I bought my two 5DIV's a couple months before the R was released and they are still going strong. I specialize in Food and Lifestyle images and my clients cannot tell the difference in my images, I own L lenses that fit my style and am content with the results. Perhaps I'll buy an R5II and use an adapter for my EF L's but I see no advantage at this time. Heaven forbid an "Influencer" notices my Profoto 7b, Acute2 kit and b600 gear, they are so last century...
Packs and heads? How old are you, right! Just kidding, same here, just a different brand.
I am young at heart and have been shooting professionally for thirty years.
24 and 31 years making a living from photography
Today clients are actually knowledgable on camera gear more often than people think. They know exactly what you use and why. Some like to talk about gear and will question you on what you think of something. Then they call you back for more work. They only care that you can do the job they ask for without worrying of any shortcoming.
Go with what you know and trust! So long as Jessica's exposures create the look and feel of what she wanted to capture, then she's in the zone!
I started with a Linhoff 4x5 and an OM SLR. Since then, I have captured over 12K photos with my reliable D80, then converted it to infrared. Now I have a D610 and D780 that I'm still finding features to use that meet my requirements. I picked up a D7500 to carry with me everywhere I go on daily basis. Equipment is important, but it's only a means to an end - the artists/photographers vision.
Yes I agree its all about the end result
It is nice to have the lastest gear but that is not what bringing in jobs. Your style and reputation are your main selling points. Do you ask your mechanic what kind of tools will you be using on my car?
Thats very true, I dont list my equipment when showing my portfolio, just the images I've shot.
Yeah, I've never listed gear or camera settings and have always thought that was tacky and amateurish. I don't like artist statements or captions either, but I do like photo credits. That's just me and I'm definitely not telling anybody else to be like me.
Too right. Its the images that say everything about who you are as a photographer. Equipment is no more than a means to an end.
Once upon a time, a famous photographer was invited to dinner. The hostess raved about his work and said, "Your photos are so beautiful. You must have a great camera."
The photographer replied, "This dinner is delicious. You must have great pots."
Old gear doesn't get worse, new gear is just even better. DSLRs did their job then, and they still do it now - so I urge new photographers or photographers dying to upgrade on a budget to check them out. Yes, I get bummed when my D750 can't focus on one specific thing branch or an object outside of its AF coverage, but really, it's a rock solid tool. The amazing battery life that I have come to measure in days rather than hours is basically just the cherry on top.
The battery life is part of what stopped me from jumping to mirrorless. I can wait and continue enjoying my current kit.
Isn't "retro" what all the kool kids are doing anyway?
I think we are a long way away from referring to DSLR as retro... but what do I know, I still think the 90s was about 15 years ago
Wait. What? The 90s weren't 15 years ago?
It's great that she's talking about "commitment" to photo gear and she has a very professional attitude. However, there are 2 different kinds of commitment to photo gear:
#1 Film - slow to change, stable, history takes precendence
#2 Digital - quick to change, unstable, new takes precendence
Professional photographers are judged by the commitment they make and the type of gear that they use symbolically represents this commitment. Her problem is that she's not changing with the times in a way that's expected by modern digital photographers. I'm not saying this is how it should be, but I am saying that this is the truth in the real world.
I had a similar problem when I was young. I had been to school for photography and had also been the head assistant for the most respected and top earning commercial photographer in the region. But the only gear I had was an old pawn shop camera. Nobody respected me when I showed up to do shoots on my own even though they couldn't tell what kind of gear had been used to shoot my portfolio. This motivated me to get very serious about gear and I saved for 2 years to buy a set of top of line monolights and took out a loan for 20k to buy the top of the line camera at the time. I was really poor, lived in the ghetto with pothead roommates, drove an old car, wore jeans and t shirts everywhere and basically I was a total loser. But when I showed up to shoots with my new gear EVERYBODY took me seriously and assumed I had authority. That was the beginning of my own career and I never had to assist another self-absorbed pretentious know-it-all prima-donna God's-gift-to-art asshole photographer ever again.
Today, I have the opposite problem as the young lady. When people see me working they always ask "are you a professional?" If I say facetiously, "Nah I'm just a hobbyist" then they always argue with me... "Shut up dude, you're a professional!" BTW I'm definitely not saying this is how the world should be, but I am saying that this is how the world really is and young people should hear the truth.
Thanks for your comment, I can see why your investment paid off, and presenting as a professional absolutely helps open doors. Sometimes the right bags and cases help with that until you can drop the money on a solid camera body. I hired kit for my first large job and spent the income buying the kit that I had hired.
That's a great point about renting gear for a job and then buying the gear after getting paid. I knew people that did that and it's a smart way to get started if you can get the job ahead.of time.
Also, you're absolutely right about having nice cases and looking good when showing up. My first kit was just big enough for me to carry alone with 2 hard cases for the lights, a shoulder bag for the stands, and another shoulder bag for my camera.
As an amateur, I was very happy to switch to the mirrorless Canon EOS R in 2020 after letting my hobby sleep for years… because I couldn’t get the mercury batteries for my 1972-vintage Canon FTb, love the ability to switch ISO between shots, film & wet darkrooms are slow & expensive to process, and I think top notch glass and a sensor that’s good for 16 x 20 inch prints is all I “need.” Auto-focus & some of the latest electronics are great for amateurs & action shooters. I learned to get good shots at soccer games with simultaneous manual focus, zoom & shutter control. Unless pro clients insist on the latest toys, I'd get what you need & don’t switch or upgrade until you really need some capability that was missing.
Stand your ground. A Pro is someone who gets what the customer wants. Just to be clear with all the Canon and Nikon users for hang with your camera (s). Mirrorless started before Sony but Sony has run with it in '13. Now the others just started and when they did they required all new lenses also. So you stayed and spent more just to stay with the same brand. Where were you in '13.
OK! Your company you were working with for keep buying it the gear and kept you hooked. Back then we had paper magazines did you not read back then. Sony the mirrorless today has filled every lens slot both prime and telephoto and is now making the best even better and the cameras have selectable AF, faster FPS etc...
Lastly software has gotten so good any camera can capture a great image for today it is not so much the camera and lens any more. I have gone back to old image files even old point and shoots as well as my old T2i and made some great photos you could not tell what they are made with.
Using a bracketed with a promote control using my T2i processed with the newer Lr.
Even found a Milky Way capture with my T2i and kit lens back before I knew what it was.
Went back to an image of Oak Alley after finding they are gone now.
Today it is Software that makes your new camera look so good.
I'm 3 years into my Nikon D750 & Sigma 14-24 lens that feeds me with my real estate photo business. I'd like to upgrade to the D850. I just love the feel and challenge I have with the camera but the final product once I get it back from my editors, is what makes it worth it for me. However, it appears some of my competitors are a little bit busier than I am because they use these glamor filters on their photos which I do not and will not do.
I absolutely love my D850 and wont upgrade until I need to, I get quite attached to my gear its not a toy for me. That being said, I'm sure your D750 does everything you need it to do!
She'll be ok with her 5dIV, or she can sell it for $2.000 to get a R6 and use all her lenses with an adapter. Life is simple. :)
Thats a solid option!
Just what I did - through a Canon upgrade program. Love my R6!
Mirrorless isnt better at everything. Sticking with DSLR can make a lot of sense if its the system you know and like.
My old D800 lasts way longer on a battery, boots faster, and focuses quicker than my Z7ii. I don’t have to wait for it to wake from sleep to begin shooting and never have EVF lag (because there isn’t one). It also focuses much better in low light.
The Z7ii, however wins in a lot of other things. Always a trade off but its not a clear cut choice by a long shot and as soon as you decide to move to Nikon or Canon mirrorless you are accepting paying much more for glass forever.
I loved my D800, a solid piece of kit!
"Professional" means you get paid for your skills or services. That's it. Profession.
Somewhere, somehow professional came to mean what tools you buy into to render that work, which often is made more salient than the work itself. This is backwards, and will always be backwards.
The joke is not on Jessica, its on those "professionals" that max out their CC trying to chase a hijacked term that has empty meaning that gives empty pockets in return.
Very true! I'm sure Jessica is doing just fine with what she has.
I tell people all the time: "It's the carpenter, not the hammer".
Better equipment doesn't make one a better photographer which we all know. However, better equipment can make one's job easier and more efficient.
It will be a moot point in a couple of years when AI takes over fashion photography.
If the *only* thing someone comments on is the gear you're using, and ignores the results, they're probably not serious about photography.
Besides, these days it seems to me that being proficient in Adobe tools is just as important, if not more important, than being expert at using a camera!
A very good point, thanks for your input!
Only other "photographers" care about what gear you have. Never have I had a client (other than someone hiring me as a 2nd shooter) ask me about my camera gear. The client is just concerned about the outcome of the photo.
I mostly shoot real estate with the occasional head shot and some amateur boxing, youth/HS wrestling. I carry 2 Nikon D500's for work - they are BULLETPROOF, work each time, every time, all the time, and with the grip are good for 2500 shots without a pocket full of batteries. I also have a whole batch of DX lenses, including DX dedicated Sigma Art lenses, so I'm in fairly deep with DX.
I have a Z50 as a family fun cam. It's cute. The WYSIWYG viewfinder is nice, the "pin" autofocus is cool for macro.
When Nikon finally comes out with a Z500, I'll look and maybe (probably) switch, but until then, I'll stay with bulletproof.
It’s like what my camera dealer said when I was faced with the transition from film to digital. He said, “You’re selling your gear in a falling market. The longer you wait the less you will get for it.”
A good point.. Thats if you consider it as "waiting" rather than feeling your current kit has more to give before you switch, that's where I'm at. Its about more than monetary value for me.
Good for you. A full-time press photographer for 37 years now semi-professional, I've just made the tough decision to stay DSLR for a bit longer. Tough, because I do feel the pressure to keep up with Jones' and looking the part is an element of being professional. Kit gets more expensive, my work however, has been reducing. I have tens of excellent quality lenses that won't migrate to mirrorless and thanks to people selling their kit to go mirrorless a lot of good quality solidly made reliable lenses are appearing for sale at affordable prices. Yes, of course I'd absolutely love to have the money to kit up with the new Z8/Z9 and and a full set of lenses I'm not a Luddite, but I can't financially justify it. Ultimately, there are a lot more electronics and plastic in the new kit, brilliant as it is. I hammer my kit in all weathers and situations. I need good battery life. At the end of the day most of my work is 300 dpi on line, if it's a great picture you can't tell or care if it was taken on the D700 at 12mp or Z9 at 45mp or if the lens was nano coated or VR. Yes the latest kit makes taking pictures a bit easier, and may help concentrate on the image a bit more, but it's not a deal breaker in regards to taking great pictures. A lot more 'photographers' should concentrate on taking pictures, being that moment rather than banging on about their latest kit.
I'm with you there, my DSLR feels solid and mechanical compared with lightweight and electrical.
I shall struggle on with my gear, my clients judge me on my output not my camera and to suggest that a so called professional doesnt use DSLRs is straight from somebody who worships the latest gear more than their images.
Say what? The only optical difference between a DSLR and mirrorless is a shorter flange focal distance (distance from camera mount to sensor). And that only matters when the lens focal length is shorter - i.e. wide-angle lenses. DSLRs need to use a retrofocus lens design (basically a second lens which sits behind the wide-angle lens, and projects the wide-angle image further away), making them bigger and more expensive. If you don't shoot a lot of wide angle, the lenses and pictures you get from a DSLR are going to be identical to mirrorless.
This is the advice I got 20 years ago, and it's still relevant today. As you build up your inventory of photo gear, your lenses, your filters, your tripod(s) are all things you'll keep and use for decades if not the rest of your life. Take your time to carefully pick and choose those. OTOH your camera body is just a fancy light-tight box. You'll probably only use it for 5-10 years before upgrading, so new features you're missing, you'll probably pick up with your next upgrade.
Equipment is one of the least important things to photography. What matters most is your eye for composition. Decades ago, one of the professional photographers for Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition would show up for shoots with a $130 Fujifilm point and shoot. He had trouble operating his SLR due to his age, but the point and shoot worked fine. And his eye for composition is what made the shots. I've got a (non-photographer) friend whose snapshots occasionally blow mine away because she has a natural talent for composition.
Equipment is near the bottom of the list of important things. Your phone's camera could get you probably 70%-80% of the shots you want. The hundreds to thousands of dollars we spend on better equipment are all just to add a few extra percent (too dark, too fast, too far, etc). They don't make a difference in the vast majority of photos we take. If you feel like criticizing others over their equipment, you're not a photographer. You're a gear collector.
Keeping a camera for more than 5 years used to be the norm, now it seems as though you have to justify reasons for doing so.
It's all about pricing, if someone offers me a 1dxIII for $1000 I'd buy it. :)
It's funny how nobody discusses the advantage of an optical viewfinder. We architectural photographers shoot bracketed on a tripod all day long with crazy dynamic range challenges. Composing with only 12 stops of dynamic range (mirrorless) kneecaps our ability to see the final photo on set. With an optical viewfinder the eye can see 22-30+ stops of dynamic range and we blend the brackets in post to bring the final photo closer to what we see through an OVF. Not switching until they make some kind of crazy breakthroughs in sensor DR, which really hasn't improved in the last 10 years...
You're right it is funny and I noticed that too. There's something embarassing and pathetic about relying on an lcd for focus. But, I'm old school so my opinion is definitely not the popular one. I can easily understand that the majority will demand mirrorless in the future and it's the smart route for a young person to invest in lenses for a mirrorless system imho
Because at the present moment, I do not have 10 grand to replace the system I presently own. When my D810 goes to that big picture in the sky in the not to distant future, then and only then will I part with the cash.